The invention relates to a lamellar or fan-type end grinding wheel in which abrasive or grinding flaps overlapping one another in tile-like manner and fixed are positioned along the circumferential zone of a circular disc-shaped, flexible base or back plate and project through radial slots in the circumferential zone.
Lamellar end grinding wheels can be used in different ways, but are preferably used in angle grinders. However, such lamellar end grinding wheels can also be used in drilling machines or similar grinding equipment.
A preferred field of use of lamellar end grinding wheels is the smoothing and cleaning of welding seams and spots. In this connection, such lamellar end grinding wheels can also be used for roughing and polishing, without it being necessary to use different wheels or grain sizes. Thus, with the aid of a single tool, it is possible to obtain a particularly good surface quality. However, lamellar end grinding wheels of the present type are also suitable for other operations such as deburring, bevelling, rust removal or removing old paint. It is also possible to work the most varied materials, such as steel, refined steel, nonferrous metals, aluminium, rigid plastics, artificial stone, rocks, wood or fillers.
A lamellar end grinding wheel of the aforementioned type is known from U.S. Pat. No. 3,616,581. This grinding wheel comprises a completely rigid metallic inner wheel or disc with an opening in the centre, around which is concentrically placed a ring with an internal thread for screwing onto a spindle fitted to a grinding tool. The inner wheel is embedded at its edge in a circular ring-shaped outer plastic wheel, which has the radial slots for receiving the grinding flaps. A completely rigid mounting flange is necessary for operating this grinding wheel and is mounted on the tool spindle upstream of the grinding wheel. The grinding wheel equipped with the grinding flaps and partly projecting out of the slots on the workpiece-remote side is subsequently screwed onto the spindle, the circumferential edge of the inner wheel being braced against a rubber-lined, raised edge on the outer circumference of the mounting flange. The intermediate flap portions are fixed in the initial region of the slots. Thus, in the outer region of the grinding wheel the flaps are not fixed.
This lamellar end grinding wheel suffers from the disadvantage that it can only be used with an individually adapted mounting flange and that a locking of the grinding flaps can only take place in conjunction with a grinding tool, whose spindle thread must correspond to the grinding wheel thread. It is also disadvantageous that the grinding flaps are only held at one end, so that the reliability of the fixing is dependent on the care exercised by the operator responsible for fixing the grinding wheel. It is also disadvantageous that the rubber lining of the mounting flange is subject to wear, so that with increasing use the fixing effect decreases. In order to produce the necessary high contact pressure, which is vital for maintaining the grinding flaps over a relatively small pressure surface, the inner wheel and the mounting flange must have a rigid construction, so that the inner region of the grinding wheel must be rigid and does not have the flexibility desired during use. It is also disadvantageous that the operator must take care when mounting a grinding wheel on the mounting flange that the projecting ends of the grinding flaps are uniformly arranged and aligned in the clamping zone to avoid the application of individual flaps, thereby no longer ensuring the clamping of other flaps.
The problem of the present invention is to provide a lamellar end grinding wheel of the aforementioned type, in which the clamping of the grinding flaps takes place directly, i.e. independently of a grinding tool.